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Port Richey Puzzled As More Leaks Found In Water System

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By CHRISTIAN M. WADE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 16, 2008

PORT RICHEY - The city has discovered dozens of leaks in its troubled water system.

Last week, utility workers found one in a water distribution pipe that runs under the Pithlachascotee River and supplies water to residents in the southern end of the city.
City officials have taken that pipe out of service and are discussing how to repair it.

This week, they found another leak. This one was next to a meter at the city's wellfield and much bigger than others, leaking an estimated 1.3 million gallons of water a year.

Several smaller leaks have been uncovered around other meters and connections.

"Everyday we're uncovering more and more leaks," City Manager Richard Reade said. "We've been turning over every stone trying to figure out where all this water is going."

Port Richey is bleeding water, more than a quarter of its supply, by modest estimates.

Officials started investigating after an interim city manager, James Mathieu, found that the city was paying for more than it was pumping.

The probe revealed that more than a quarter of the city's water supply was unaccounted for - a loss of between 5 million and 10 million gallons of drinking water a month for years.

Utility workers started checking meters that they suspected might be faulty and found that some businesses were abusing the city's water system, accidentally or intentionally.

The utility personnel have also been exploring the possibility that a good portion of the missing water might be flowing into the county's system through a connection at Gulf View Square mall.

Reade said the city has not determined whether there is a cross-connection near the mall, where the county's and city's water distribution lines run in close proximity.

"It's a mystery," he said. "There are many areas of the city's water system that we're still trying to understand. It's going to take some time to figure it all out, but we'll get there."
Leaks are common in most municipal water systems, said Mayor Richard Rober, who runs a private utility based in west Pasco County, but seldom are so many found.

"We're losing a huge amount of water," Rober said. "And that's costing us big money."

Water purchases weigh heavily on the city's annual budget. More than 40 percent of its water comes from New Port Richey, which adds up to more than $400,000 a year.

Port Richey doesn't have a sewage treatment plant, meaning it has to pay the county to treat millions of gallons of wastewater discharged into the sewer system every month.
City officials also are preparing to tap a new wellfield that's capable of pumping millions of gallons a day, a move expected to end the city's long reliance on New Port Richey.

Meanwhile, the search for more missing water continues.

Reporter Christian M. Wade can be reached at (727) 815-1082 or cwade@tampatrib.com.

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